Some Gaps in the Historical Record
by Alelou
Summary: A short 'finale fix' set in the same TNG timeframe that screwed it up in the first place. Implied TnT ... sort of.


_This is a short 'finale-fix' Enterprise fanfic set during ST:TNG. Implied TnT, a little Riker & Troi. If you want some out-and-out TnT check out my other story, which is rated M even though I've since decided it's pretty tame stuff compared to some of what I've seen rated T..._

_Official Disclaimer: Paramount's, not mine. Archive anywhere._

"You're Commander Riker, aren't you?" the man said, sitting down next to him at the bar. Riker and the rest of the crew were in San Francisco being debriefed on the last mission and awaiting new orders. Will had already been through his debriefing and was waiting for Deanna, whose meeting seemed to be taking awfully damned long.

"And you are?" he said, unconsciously stretching to his full height and looking down at the wiry little man, whose curly dark hair was tinged with silver.

"Alfonzo Guerrero," the man said, with a friendly smile, and extended his hand. "I work in Star Fleet's Department of History." His eyes were bright and inquisitive and he was studying Riker with discomfiting attention.

Riker hadn't even heard of that department. "And what do you do in Star Fleet's Department of History?"

"Holodeck programming. Specifically, I translate Star Fleet historical records into adaptive training programs."

"You're kidding." Riker looked at him with new interest. "I've found some of those programs pretty helpful."

The man looked pleased. "Have you? May I ask which ones specifically?"

"Well, just a few months ago, our ship's counselor recommended one on the old NX-01 crew and the founding of the Federation."

The man smiled. "That's one of mine. I'm quite proud of it." His eyes swept up and down Riker rather critically. "You know, Commander, I was hoping that I could interview you and some members of your crew about a few key events on your last mission. It's not often I get to work with a really complete historical record and have fresh input from the people who lived it. I'm afraid the further away we get from an event, the more unreliable our information gets. Perhaps you've noticed that we've had to fill in quite a few blanks here and there."

Riker was surprised. "Actually, I assumed you must have had unusually complete records on the NX-01 program. It sure looked like you did."

Guerrero beamed. "Thank you. We try. But of course, the less information we have, the more we have to extrapolate."

"I assumed you were working from ship's recordings. It felt like I was right there."

Guerrero's smile broadened. "We did have _some,_ of course. The NX-01 class ships routinely recorded activity on the bridge. They also monitored key locations in the ship, but those files were seldom archived unless something became part of an official investigation. I'm afraid many of those records were also lost over the years – perhaps even intentionally destroyed."

Riker lifted his eyebrows. "Then the conversations I overheard...?"

"If they were on the bridge they might have actually happened as you saw them. Others, we had to fill in the blanks. They were pretty strict about medical privacy, so we don't have anything from sickbay except official documents. And of course, if you're in interactive mode, the program simply reacts in a best-guess mode to whatever you bring to it."

"Well, I assumed that." Riker knew it was highly unlikely Enterprise's real chef had systematically interviewed the crew about Commander Tucker just before he died. "But even in observer mode, you're saying it didn't actually happen that way?"

Guerrero shrugged. "You're probably just seeing our best guess."

"Then that whole tangled relationship between Tucker and T'Pol..."

Guerrero laughed. "I see you're a romantic at heart, Commander. Actually, my superior and I believe it's that particular element that makes that program so popular. We've always found that a little chemistry is the best way to keep people interested, and those two had plenty to spare. Occasionally I pull up the old bridge tapes just to watch them go at it again."

"So they _were_ a couple."

Guerrero looked a little embarrassed. "Officially? I have no idea."

Riker was surprised at how disappointed he felt. "But, the conversations between them clearly referenced a romantic relationship. Are you saying you just made that up?"

"Call it an educated guess. You have to understand, Star Fleet would hardly have approved of a shipboard romance in those days, so any relationship that existed would have had to be clandestine. The historical record is sparse. Basically, what we have is clear evidence that Tucker once accompanied T'Pol to Vulcan, where she wed her betrothed, a Vulcan, in a ceremony that he attended."

Riker was appalled. "Wouldn't that indicate they _weren't _together?"

"She and her husband divorced less than a year later. This was during the beginning of a major upheaval on Vulcan, so it's unclear what exactly was going on there. But for Tucker to even be there with her was quite striking, I assure you."

"Perhaps they were just very good friends," Riker said, annoyed on the behalf of the real Commander Tucker and Commander T'Pol, so long dead and unable to correct the record.

"There's more than that. You may also remember that an early guerilla organization called Terra Prime used their DNA to create their hybrid child in an attempt at driving all aliens off earth. So it was widely assumed by the media at the time that the couple had a romantic relationship. We also have the famous journal of Enterprise's mission kept by Hoshi Sato. It's clear that Sato and her shipmates believed a romantic relationship of some kind existed between the two, although she never details any absolute evidence of it."

"So that conversation I overheard in the shuttle craft – you just made it up," Riker said, really annoyed now. "All that 'Do you miss me?' stuff never really happened."

Guerrero smiled. "I prefer to say I extrapolated freely rather than making it up. You don't think it made for a more compelling program?"

"It was kind of sweet," Riker said, "But it made the whole thing seem a lot more tragic than it necessarily was. And don't you think it's a little disrespectful to just make up stuff like that? They were real people who served Star Fleet faithfully. Don't you think you ought to at least add a disclaimer somewhere – that what you're about to see contains elements of fiction?"

Guerrero took a sip of his drink. He looked uncomfortable. "Actually, there has been some discussion about that. Holograms this sophisticated are still fairly new to Star Fleet, and we're the first to admit we haven't worked out all the wrinkles yet. But I assure you, these historical programs would be awfully tedious without any interesting personal interactions. And they won't do us any good if nobody uses them."

Riker wasn't convinced. "It still seems like a heck of a lot to just assume about two people."

Guerrero shrugged. "Personally I have no doubt there was something pretty intense going on between those two. I'm just not sure exactly what it was."

"And why do you assume whatever they had ended six years before their mission did?"

"I get that question a lot," Guerrero said. "If you watch the bridge tapes made in the latter half of the mission, there's much less conflict between them. The relationship is still quite warm and mutually protective, but always completely professional. I concluded that whatever they'd had was over."

"Maybe they just got used to each other," Riker said. "You know, comfortable. People tend to calm down once the, um, tension between them has been resolved..." He blushed a little, then coughed. "What about T'Pol? She never said anything?"

"T'Pol disappears from recorded history shortly after Commander Tucker's death. That's one of the mysteries that intrigue historians," Guerrero said. "It's quite a coincidence, especially considering how much longer Vulcans are supposed to live and how prominent she was in her time."

Riker cocked his head, intrigued. "I hadn't heard that. Doesn't that imply his death hit her pretty damned hard?"

"Actually, some historians dispute that Tucker really died at that particular point in history," Guerrero said. "They say he disappeared too, and the whole thing stinks of an official cover-up. If you're a student of history, you might find it an interesting area of study. Personally I think there's an element of romantic wish fulfillment involved in that theory. I find it hard to believe Star Fleet would have intentionally faked a man's death. It appears that their early intelligence operations were clumsy at best."

"You don't find out about intelligence operations that _aren't _clumsy," Riker said. "Maybe I'll look into it someday." He knew that was unlikely, though. Captain Picard might enthusiastically fit a passionate obsession with a historical topic into his daily routine, but Will preferred a good round of poker or some jazz ... or a nice meal with the ship's counselor.

Speaking of which, where the hell was she?

"One of the reasons I approached you is that I believe you've had an interesting human-alien relationship of your own, Commander," Guerrero said. "I'd love to hear more about it when you have a chance."

Naturally Deanna picked that exact moment to appear at the door.

"I'm afraid you're going to just have to extrapolate freely on that one for now, Mr. Guerrero," Riker said. "It's been a pleasure, but I have to go." He wasted no time in intercepting his shipmate and scooping her right back out the door.

"Hey, what's the rush?" Deanna protested.

"Just keep going, _imzadi_," Riker said. "Someday you'll thank me."

THE END


End file.
